Chapter Summaries

Lucian raced back toward the rainforest while Ikaris pursued him, and Natasha struggled to save the mortally wounded Clint from Makkari. Hulk turned the fight against Gilgamesh with a practiced martial arts combination and charged at him again as Gilgamesh lay helpless.

• Lucian left the sea at full speed for the rainforest, and Ikaris followed despite his severe injuries.
• Natasha hid from Makkari while Clint lay close to death, and she prepared for one final surprise attack.
• Hulk’s strength continued to grow, and he tricked Gilgamesh into a close-range counterattack.
• Hulk used a Bajiquan combination to tear Gilgamesh’s face, break his breastbone, and knock him into a muddy pit.
• Hulk roared that he was forcing his way up the mountain, then charged at the helpless Gilgamesh again.

Steve and Pietro turned the battle around by using the Alliance Ring to weaken Makkari and empower Pietro, creating an opening to attack Druig. The chapter ended with a vibranium dagger striking Druig as Steve pinned Kingo down.

• Tony diverted his remaining armor energy to melee and maneuvering as Phastos kept him trapped in the air.
• Steve used the Alliance Ring to weaken Makkari and channel the energy into Pietro, then threw his shield toward Druig to draw Kingo's fire.
• Pietro broke free of Druig's mental control, blocked Makkari's punch, and threw his dagger toward Druig while holding Makkari back.
• Steve charged through Kingo's Energy Blasts and tackled him, preventing him from intercepting the dagger.
• Pietro's vibranium dagger pierced Druig.

Natasha revived Clint with adrenaline and Compound V, and Hulk returned to the battle in time to save Steve from Kingo. Hulk threw Kingo at Thena, giving Wanda an opening to attack, then charged in to help her while Pietro kept Makkari occupied.

• Druig died after the dagger struck his chest, and Kingo furiously battered Steve while Makkari stopped Pietro from reaching them.
• Natasha injected Clint with adrenaline and Compound V, then called Hulk away from his fight with Gilgamesh to help the others.
• Hulk knocked Kingo away from Steve, moved Steve to safety, and was struck in the back by Thena's energy arrows.
• Hulk grabbed Kingo by the ankle, spun him around, and hurled him toward Thena, who dodged and was struck by Wanda's chaos magic.
• Thena attacked Wanda with blades of light while Pietro told Hulk to protect Wanda, and Hulk charged toward Thena.

Tony exhausted his armor and crippled himself to kill Phastos, while Makkari beat Pietro to the brink of death as the Avengers fell into disarray. As Pietro lost consciousness, a furious voice announced over the Avengers’ comm channels, "Pivot, in position."

• Tony used the armor’s remaining energy to escape Phastos’s disintegrating nanotech trap and impaled him with vibranium blades, then passed out from his injuries.
• Steve fell into a deep coma, causing the Alliance Ring to dissipate and restoring Makkari’s full speed.
• Makkari repeatedly struck Pietro, breaking his bones and leaving him close to death.
• Thena, Gilgamesh, and Kingo kept Hulk under attack while Wanda’s shield shattered and she collapsed to one knee.
• Pietro remembered the young man who had offered to help change their fate, then lost consciousness as a furious voice announced, "Pivot, in position."

Lucian arrived at the devastated rainforest battlefield, rescued and began healing the wounded Avengers, then fought the Eternals. He trapped Makkari and Thena, but Ikaris returned and accidentally severed Makkari’s leg with his Heat Vision, leaving Lucian facing him.

• Lucian descended onto the battlefield, punched Gilgamesh underground, and copied his Energy Armor to replenish his power.
• Lucian carried the wounded to safety and healed them while allowing Hulk to pursue Gilgamesh.
• Lucian struck Thena and impaled Kingo with a blood sword before finishing him with lightning.
• Lucian used telekinesis and an electromagnetic pulse to capture Makkari and Thena as Makkari tried to rescue her.
• Ikaris returned and fired Heat Vision at Lucian, but it passed through him and severed Makkari’s right leg.
• Lucian turned toward Ikaris and prepared to fight him.

Lucian defeated the remaining Eternals after they launched one last coordinated attack, leaving Ikaris unconscious and the rainforest battlefield silent. He dismissed Ikaris’s warning about Arishem and the Emergence, while Hulk celebrated his victory over Gilgamesh.

• Ikaris sensed that Lucian had recovered some energy as the injured Eternals lay scattered across the battlefield.
• Thena and Ikaris attacked Lucian together, but he avoided their strikes, shattered Thena’s wrist, and blasted her unconscious with lightning.
• Lucian met Ikaris’s strongest punch with his own, broke Ikaris’s arm, then dragged him down with Telekinesis and pinned him in the mud.
• Hulk emerged from the crater after knocking Gilgamesh unconscious and declared that he had won.
• Lucian disabled Ikaris by severing his remaining energy circuits after Ikaris warned him about Arishem and the Emergence.

Lucian defeated Makkari and brought the wounded Avengers and captured Eternals back to Vought Tower. He left the Avengers in Vought’s care and prepared to examine the seven captured Eternals.

• Lucian knocked Makkari unconscious and returned to the Avengers with Hulk.
• Lucian called Simona, who sent two transports to collect the wounded Avengers and take them to Vought Tower.
• Simona briefed Lucian on Vought’s expansion and control of Hell’s Kitchen as they entered the tower.
• Lucian instructed Simona to care for the Avengers and give Hulk space and food.
• Lucian used telekinesis to take Ikaris, Thena, Makkari, Kingo, Phastos, Druig, and Gilgamesh to his private floor and prepared to tally his spoils.

Lucian examined the fallen Eternals in his private laboratory and considered how their abilities could be combined, while Tony and the others woke in Vought Tower. Simona told them that Lucian was recovering and the Eternals had been wiped out.

• Lucian inspected Ikaris, Thena, Druig, Phastos, and Makkari, assessing their abilities as potential additions to his collection.
• Lucian imagined combining the Eternals' energy armor, weapon creation, device creation, and Energy Blasts into a powerful attack.
• Lucian weighed whether to copy Ikaris's Heat Vision or super physique.
• Tony woke in Vought Tower's intensive care ward and found that his reactor and body were intact, while Wanda and Pietro also recovered.
• Simona told Tony and the others that Jade Balance had cut off JARVIS's network access and Lucian was recovering on the top floor.
• Simona told Steve and the others that the Eternals had been wiped out.

Tony and the Avengers learned that Lucian had captured every invader and was guarding them while he recovered. After they left, Simona told Wanda and Pietro that the compound was their home and that they could choose their own floors.

• Tony questioned whether the invaders were dead and whether the Celestial inside Earth could still awaken, and Simona said Lucian had brought all the invaders back alive or dead and was guarding them himself.
• Tony left the hospital to return to his lab and improve his technology for a future fight with Phastos.
• Steve asked Simona to tell Lucian to contact him after recovering and promised to monitor underground energy activity with the Avengers.
• Natasha and Clint thanked Lucian and left with Steve to return to the agency.
• Pietro asked Simona whether he and Wanda had to leave too, and Simona told them the compound was their home and they could choose their own floors.

Simona helped Wanda and Pietro settle into Vought Tower and told them about the reconstruction of Sokovia. She also assured Bruce Banner that he was free to leave and that Vought would protect him, leaving him ready to take an unaccompanied walk in New York.

• Simona gave Wanda and Pietro cards loaded with a hundred million each and told them about the rebuilding of Sokovia.
• Wanda chose the sunny side of their new home and said she wanted to pick out the furniture, while Pietro asked for an indoor running track and a hundred game consoles.
• A Vought medical director told Banner that Hulk had helped defeat the Eternals in South America without causing civilian casualties.
• Banner realized that communication had helped him and Hulk work together, and he felt relieved that Hulk had saved the situation.
• Simona told Banner he could leave freely and that Vought would protect him from the military and other forces.
• Banner thanked Lucian and said he wanted to walk alone in New York, and Simona gave him a card in case he needed help.

Lucian reviewed the system’s new ability-copying rules and worked out how ability levels, contact, resistance, and the upgrade affected copying time. He left the chamber confident that he had solved the system’s formula.

• Lucian read Simona’s report on what Tony Stark, Steve, Natasha, Clint, Dr. Banner, Wanda, and her brother had done after returning.
• Lucian tested a golden gauntlet against his fist and concluded it was nothing special for him now.
• Lucian began copying Thena’s Energy Weapon Creation LV7 ability and saw that it would take 18 hours.
• Lucian asked the system how long copying LV7, LV8, and LV9 abilities had taken under its old rules, and it answered one month, three months, and one year.
• Lucian calculated that the upgrade sped up copying and that his level difference from a target further reduced the time, then declared that he had figured it out.

Lucian copied Super Physique from Ikaris and learned that unfinished copying progress could be transferred to background copying if a target died. He then told Shuri she could return to Wakanda, demanded monthly vibranium deliveries, and asked her to send Helen Cho to Vought International.

• Lucian completed copying Thena's Energy Weapon Creation and began copying Ikaris's Super Physique, which was estimated to take four and a half days.
• Lucian learned that he could transfer an ability's copying progress to background copying after its target died, or delete the ability entry.
• Jade Balance told Lucian that Shuri was calling, and Shuri complained that she was still waiting to return to Wakanda after making his armor.
• Lucian agreed to let Shuri leave but demanded that Wakanda send him vibranium every month, arguing that Earth had earned a reward for being saved.
• Lucian told Shuri to relay his demand to Wakanda's leaders and to have Helen Cho come to Vought International, then ended the call.

Helen Cho negotiated terms for joining Vought International and secured affordable pricing for future Regeneration Cradle treatments. She joined the company in exchange for studying Lucian’s healing ability and volunteered to experience it herself.

• Helen Cho met Lucian and described how Wakandan technology had given her new ideas for improving the Regeneration Cradle.
• Lucian offered to fund and protect her research independently or have her join Vought International, where employees would receive free treatment and she could make one request of him.
• Helen Cho worried that outside patients might be unable to afford treatment, so Lucian proposed charging one-thousandth of each patient's assets.
• Helen Cho agreed to join Vought International if the pricing terms were written into the agreement.
• Helen Cho asked to study Lucian's healing ability and volunteered to have him demonstrate it on her arm.

Lucian demonstrated his regeneration ability to Helen Cho, who used the process to devise a nanotechnology-based approach to the Regeneration Cradle. She left to bring her research team to Vought International and begin work, with Lucian agreeing to her conditions and assigning Jade Balance to oversee arrangements.

• Lucian disintegrated Helen Cho's arm and restored it in less than a minute while she observed the process.
• Helen questioned how the regeneration worked, and Lucian explained that he supplied energy while her body determined how to rebuild itself.
• Helen proposed using nanomachines to read the body's structure and coordinate tissue regeneration for the Regeneration Cradle.
• Helen asked to transfer her original research team to Vought, and Lucian agreed while warning her not to experiment on herself again.
• Lucian instructed Jade Balance to arrange Helen's team and laboratory with Simona and oversee the project.
• Lucian confirmed the treatment should be available to ordinary people and let Helen leave to begin the work.

Lucian completed copying several Eternals’ abilities and continued copying Matter Transmutation while keeping the captured Eternals confined at Vought Tower. He accompanied Wanda to choose furniture, where she told him that “boss” felt too distant after everything he had done for her, though she had not yet settled on another name.

• Lucian finished copying Ikaris’s Super Physique and added Druig’s Psychic Blast, Phastos’s Energy Device Creation, and Makkari’s Super Speed, noticing that his two energy types remained separate.
• Lucian brought Sersi, Sprite, and Ajak to Vought Tower and confined them separately with the other captured Eternals while he continued copying Matter Transmutation.
• Wanda asked Lucian to accompany her to shop for furniture, and he agreed to meet her in the lobby.
• On the drive, Wanda told Lucian that he had saved her, helped her find her parents’ killer, and given her a place and strength to start over.
• Wanda admitted she had not figured out what she wanted to call Lucian instead of boss, and he told her to let him know when she did.

Lucian tested combinations of his Eternals abilities while Wanda sought his help decorating her apartment. Wanda made the space feel more like a home and asked Lucian to visit, while he left the door open for her to come to him whenever she needed.

• Lucian combined his abilities to create and control more than a thousand flying swords, damaging the training facility and prompting Simona to complain about the maintenance budget.
• Simona told Lucian that Wanda was waiting for him because she wanted his opinion on her apartment, and she suggested that Wanda liked having him around.
• Wanda asked Lucian to choose between traditional Sokovian stone and Pietro's neon fireplace design, and Lucian backed her preference for stone.
• Lucian and Wanda discussed furniture, colors, and reinforcing the apartment, and Wanda asked whether he would come over often.
• Wanda thanked Lucian, and he told her she could come to him if anything else came up.

Lucian copied Sersi’s Matter Transmutation ability and discovered that his limited energy restricted its range. While considering how to obtain higher-level energy, he was approached over the Indian Ocean by someone offering to teach him magic.

• Lucian turned his silk comforter into steel and back, then wondered whether Tiamut would regard him favorably after he had defeated the Eternals.
• Lucian flew to the Indian Ocean and used Matter Transmutation to probe for Tiamut, but his energy reached only about a hundred kilometers.
• Lucian tested the ability on a fish and realized he had copied Sersi’s power and energy, leaving the ability’s range limited by his energy level.
• Lucian considered finding the Infinity Stones or seeking Captain Marvel’s ability to absorb their energy.
• Orange-yellow sparks appeared behind Lucian, and an unseen speaker asked whether he was interested in learning magic.

The Ancient One invited Lucian to Kamar-Taj and offered to teach him magic, then revealed that he came from beyond her universe and that his search for higher-level energy had changed the futures she could see. She said many of those futures had Lucian becoming the next Sorcerer Supreme, while admitting that Strange had originally been her intended successor.

• The Ancient One opened a portal to Kamar-Taj and invited Lucian to join her for tea.
• Lucian agreed to learn magic and asked the Ancient One what she thought of Tiamut sleeping beneath the Indian Ocean.
• The Ancient One said she could not see beyond her death and expected her successor to handle the Celestial and Earth's future.
• The Ancient One revealed that the Eye of Agamotto could see neither Lucian's past nor his future because he did not belong to her universe.
• The Ancient One explained that Lucian's wish to seek higher-level energy had split the river of time into over a thousand new futures, many of which made him Sorcerer Supreme.
• Lucian named Strange as the Ancient One's intended successor, and she admitted that she had waited too long.

Lucian agreed to learn the Mystic Arts from the Ancient One and accept the responsibility she was passing on, though he intended to remain free to travel between worlds. She began his training by explaining how sorcerers draw power from other dimensions and demonstrating two spells.

• Lucian told the Ancient One he would not stay on Earth permanently to guard the Three Sanctums.
• The Ancient One confirmed she wanted to retire and trusted Lucian to take on the role she was leaving behind.
• Lucian weighed the offer and agreed to begin learning magic.
• The Ancient One gave Lucian a Sling Ring and explained how sorcerers use intent to channel energy from other dimensions.
• The Ancient One demonstrated the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak and the Sword of Vishanti.

Lucian learned to use a Sling Ring at Kamar-Taj and opened a portal directly into Wanda’s home by mistake. After explaining where he was, he asked the Ancient One to teach Wanda as well.

• The Ancient One explained how to focus and visualize a destination when using a Sling Ring.
• Lucian opened a large portal on his first try, sensing the dimensional energy that powered it.
• The portal led to Wanda’s living room, where she prepared to defend herself before recognizing Lucian.
• Wanda asked why Lucian had opened the portal to her home, and he said he was more familiar with it.
• Lucian asked the Ancient One to teach Wanda too.